Several types of information may provide insight into what features should be included on a new product in order for the product to have the best market success. Such information may include input from customers about the desirability of various outcomes (e.g., good fuel economy), the current level of satisfaction with regard to achieving those desired outcomes, and the desirability of various potential features or solutions that may achieve the desired outcomes (e.g., a hybrid drive may be a feature that provides better fuel economy).
Some existing systems and/or business models may consider only some of these types of information in determining which features to include on a product. For example, systems and/or methods have been developed that are tailored to determining how much customers like the idea of certain features (e.g., a hybrid drive or a diesel engine), but these systems and/or methods do not determine how important the benefits (e.g., better fuel economy) of such features are to the customers. Therefore, these systems and/or methods fail to consider how much opportunity there is in the marketplace for such features (i.e., how satisfied the customer currently is with the presently available solution(s) for providing good fuel economy).
Other business models may analyze customer input regarding desired outcomes and determine opportunity merely for the purpose of identifying which outcomes designers should try to find solutions for. These models, however, do not consider the desirability of any particular potential solutions. Since these prior art methods are merely tailored to figuring out how important certain outcomes are to customers, these methods leave manufacturers to guess which solution will achieve the best market success. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0163365, issued to Fames et al. (hereinafter “the '365 publication”) discloses one such system/method. The '365 publication appears to disclose using two different types of analysis based on customer feedback. However, both types of analysis are performed on customer feedback having to do with the outcomes customers want. In the '365 publication, the choice about which features will be used to achieve the desired outcomes is not based on customer feedback regarding any potential features.
The present disclosure is directed at improvements in existing market analysis methods.